John Manley

[Voyageur Colonial Pension Fund, September 17th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions operates as an independent agency. His watchdog role is one in which the minister plays no direct role. Consequently, there would be no conflict.

[The Economy, September 16th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member has trouble recognizing a good thing when he sees it.

Since the beginning of last year the Canadian economy has created over 600,000 jobs while at the same time the U.S. economy has lost over 900,000 jobs.

I might mention to the hon. member that the U.S. economy is 10 times larger than the Canadian economy and yet its job performance record is many times worse.

I think the fact is that we are in very good shape because of the prudent planning that was embodied in the February budget. We were in good shape to face even the emergencies that presented themselves unexpectedly to us this year.

[The Economy, September 16th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that I will present the usual fiscal and economic update this fall. Even today the finance committee has commenced its normal prebudget consultations.

I am happy to say that despite the fact that we face some challenges in our economy this year because of SARS, BSE and other things, we had enough prudence and enough contingency built into the February budget that our fiscal plan is still in very good shape.

[Ways and Means, June 12th, 2003]

moved that ways and means motion to introduce an act to amend the Income Tax Act (natural resources) be concurred in.

[Ways and Means, June 9th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1), I wish to table a notice of ways and means motion involving amendments to the Income Tax Act (natural resources), including explanatory notes. I ask that an order of the day be designated for consideration of the motion.

[Microbreweries, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, many recommendations were made by the Standing Committee on Finance before the budget was brought down. We adopted almost two thirds of these recommendations. However, it was not possible to do everything that was recommended. Microbreweries made an effort to explain the situation to members, but choices must always be made. There will always be other budgets.

[Urban Affairs, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I support public transit being available for people who can use it. The problem we have in many of our cities is the lack of availability of service. That is why our emphasis has been on constructing the infrastructure making it available so that people can then use it, not coming up with a very expensive scheme to reward people who already use it.

[Urban Affairs, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, there have been funds made available for public transit in a significant way, not only through the infrastructure program, but that vehicle is also available through the climate change funds that were proposed in the last budget.

The point here is to create more availability of public transit. That is what the challenge has been in many of our cities and that is where the federal government is directly implicated.

[The Economy, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the implementation of the 2002 tax cut package of $100 billion continues. That was one of the starting points in this year's budget. In addition, the budget introduced a number of reductions of taxes and charges, including the employment insurance premiums for next year, the elimination of the federal capital tax, and the increase in the small business deduction for small businesses.

Those are all elements that were in the budget. They seem to have foreseen the--

[The Economy, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, that is a good question. I do not intend to bring in a fiscal or economic update at this point in time. I do expect that within the next few weeks, as we get renewed projections from the private sector forecasters upon whom we rely on to determine the expectation of growth in the Canadian economy, I will be able to be more specific about what I expect the impact to be on growth this year. The effect on our fiscal position is somewhat different because it is based on different issues.